Although a number of NGOs and individuals have taken the lead, the government's lack of interest is slowing down further research in the field, feel environmentalists.
With non-renewable energy sources in India, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas, on the verge of extinction, the need to tap into renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy has risen considerably.
Although a number of NGOs and individuals have taken the lead, the government’s lack of interest is slowing down further research in the field, feel environmentalists.
Vijay Joglekar, an activist and businessman from Chiplun in Ratnagiri, has been campaigning for solar energy for the past ten years now. “How can we not see the potential of solar power? Forget about the entire state, if we try to tap solar energy in only 87 tehsils of the state, we can get around 50,000MW of electricity. Maharashtra’s current electricity production is about 14,000MW. Aren’t these figures indicative enough?” asked Joglekar.
He along with a group of activists, have been campaigning on ‘solar chimneys’. “They work on the principle of upward motion of hot air. Heated air climbs upwards in the chimney and runs the turbine, producing electricity. This is solar power technology which does not need water and can easily be implemented even in arid areas,” said Joglekar.
The Energy and Research Institute (TERI), through its ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ programme, aims to provide light through solar lanterns to about 10lakh villagers in 3,200 villages across 16 states. Three years since the project’s initiation, homes of around 2lakh villagers from 640 villages have been lit.
“We have chosen villages that are off-grid. The solar lanterns are given on rent, at a rate of Rs2 to Rs3 per night. The lanterns are charged at a solar charging station set up in the village, and the battery can run for 6 to 7 hours,” said Rajiv Chibbar, manager, corporate communication, TERI. He added that, people would earlier spend approximately Rs17 per night for kerosene to light their house. “The lanterns have become a huge hit in these villages,” added Chibbar.
The government, through its Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), has set a target of generating 20GW of solar energy by 2022. “From 2008 to 2011, the cost of solar energy per unit has come down and it will fall further once the solar projects start running. Everybody says India has potential in the solar energy field. The government needs to do a ground-level mapping of the true existing potential. Once that is done, the cost of solar energy can come down drastically,” said Siddharth Pathak, solar energy campaigner for Greenpeace.
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